1. Field
The following description relates to a method for manufacturing a lamp for vehicles and side-view viewing means, such as mirrors or camera pods, preferably in the form of a blinker.
2. Description of Related Art
A lamp for vehicles, especially for side-view mirrors or other viewing means, is described in European Patent No. 1 657 488 B 1. In this lamp, a weld seam or an adhesive seam inseperably connects a substantially U-shaped front housing part, which is configured as a transparent clear lens, to a back panel in order to provide a closed, watertight housing within which at least one illuminant is arranged. The housing components are described as made of hard plastics, preferably polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) or plastics of this family. The back panel can also be made of another plastic, such as polycarbonate (PC), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) or the like.
Another such lamp for vehicles is described in European Patent No. 1 852 306 B1, in which an illuminant, the outside, or the inside of a U-shaped front housing part features a lens system. The lens system is in the form of a surface texturing for the focusing, parallel direction, or scattering of the emitted light.
The construction of these known lamps is expensive. In addition, welding processes negatively affect the tolerances of adjacent clearances. The necessity of a weld seam or adhesive seam also limits the design of the lamps, as with a blinker in a side-view mirror arrangement of a vehicle.
German Patent Application No. 10 2011 103 200 A1 describes a light window for an illuminated unit in a side-view mirror where the light window fits the outer contour of the housing of the side-view mirror and seals an opening in the housing of the side-view mirror. The light window serves as a light conductor and features outcoupling structures on at least one area. The light window is produced out of an optical film which has a molded coating and is configured as a light conductor, where the optical film contains at least one outcoupling structure. A crystal-clear base material or, alternatively, a colored transparent material can be used for production and it can be produced in a single extrusion die. To produce the light window, the optical film is placed into the extrusion die so that a protective layer is injected on the die side of the film and the coating is injected on the core side of the film. The protective layer can be made of PC film and the coating can be made of PC or PMMA.
Molding a coating on a film to produce a light window, such as a blinker, is complicated particularly since a fastening on a housing is also needed.